Abstract [en]

The hotel industry is a constantly expanding business and with several beds to make, more sheets needs to be washed. Today, hotels can choose to use external laundry service that pick up, wash and supply bedding back to the customer. However you can also choose to wash your own bed linen at the hotel. The two different laundry management systems involve differences in both the laundry and the drying processes, which in turn affects the material and environment differently.

In a time when sustainability is a prioritized question, people adapt their business to become more eco-friendly. To raise awareness about how bedding in a hotel most efficiently is managed, this report presents and clarifies the differences between industrial versus small scale laundry. The environmental impact is presented as carbon dioxide emissions, water and chemical consumption and how the woven materials handle the different processes. The most common fabric for hotel bedding in the textile service sector is polycotton, while cotton fabric is more common in small-scale laundry. The fabric of test-specimens is chosen to present the widest possible results within a lifelike perspective. Therefore, bedding made of polycotton, a mix between cotton and lyocell and two different cotton fabrics are picked for the tests. The materials undergo 25 and 50 wash cycles for industrial and small-scale laundry before the materials is tested to show how they were affected compared to unwashed fabric.

The results indicate that there are distinct differences between the different laundry managements, both in terms of how they affect the material and from an environmental point of view. Since industrial laundry for a long period of time actively has worked towards a more sustainable business model and thus streamlined the washing process, it has resulted in major environmental benefits. However, in the case of delivery to and from the laundry facility, it is still common for trucks to be used. The transport distance to and from the hotel in question therefore becomes crucial when making the choice of the most suitable laundry management.